Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that there is mutual recognition of EU covid-19 vaccine records.

Nadhim Zahawi: As part of the commitment to ensure the safe return to international travel, the Government continues to engage with the European Commission and other International Partnerships on certification to ensure that travel between the United Kingdom (UK) and other nations is unhindered and supported by a common approach. The UK and European Union (EU) are aligned in the technical approach to COVID-19 status certification, with the UK supporting global consistent minimum technical standards in an interoperable and cross-border way. We are making effective use of our chair of the G7 meeting in 2021 to ensure G7 nations made a commitment that clinical trial participants will not be disadvantaged in certification processes.Passengers from amber countries who have been fully vaccinated with vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency, in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or in the Swiss vaccination programme, will be able to travel to England without quarantine, or a day eight test.The EU has published a list of vaccines to be accepted by EU member countries which can be found at the following link:https://reopen.europa.eu/enBased on the list and related documentation, all UK vaccines would be recognised by the EU and European Economic Area countries for the purposes of waiving travel restrictions.